BUNDESLIGA strugglers Hamburg today signed experienced coach Mirko Slomka until 2016 as they seek to avoid what would be their first-ever relegation from German top-flight football.
The 46-year-old will be Hamburgās third coach this season, having already parted company with Thorsten Fink in September and Dutchman Bert van Marwijk at the weekend.
Ex-Netherlands coach Van Marwijk, 61, was sacked on Saturday night after Hamburg were drubbed 4-2 at bottom side Eintracht Braunschweig, their seventh consecutive league defeat seeing them set an unwelcome club record.
āItās going to be about sorting out the tactical and technical abilities of the team. Thatās what weāre going to have to work on in the next few days,ā said Slomka in his first press conference.
āWeāll do everything we can to tug the club free of the situation it is in.ā
Slomka said he had given little thought to the second division, in the event his rescue mission does not succeed.
āIām just assuming weāll stay in the league.ā
The 46-year-old Slomka helped Schalke to second place in 2007. He took over at Hanover 96 in 2010, steering the Lower Saxony side to the Europa League in 2011-12 and 2012-13.
His opening match will not be an easy one as Hamburg host last seasonās Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund fresh from their 4-0 rout of Eintracht Frankfurt last Saturday.
